Matho Monastery

Matho Monastery, also called Mangtro, from Tibetan words for 'many' and 'happiness', stands 26 kilometres south-east of Leh by the Indus, at the mouth of a deep gorge from the Zanskar Range and facing Thiksey Monastery. Lama Dugpa Dorje founded it in 1410, and it belongs to the Sakya order, which is very rare in Ladakh. Being off the main highway, it gets fewer visitors than Hemis, Thiksey or Shey.

Many buildings are worn, but a colourful assembly hall of 2005 holds a Shakyamuni Buddha, and a small chapel on the top floor shows Sakya Pandita and other lamas of the Sakya school. A museum next to it keeps old thangkas, some thought to have come from Tibet in the 15th century, and the masks and robes of the dance festival. Matho is best known for the Nagrang festival in the first Tibetan month, when two monks, chosen every three years and prepared by long meditation, are said to be possessed by the Rongtsan oracles and foretell the coming year.